Afternoon all, hopefully you’re all still on Cloud 9 following yesterday’s news!
We’ve got a bit to get through in this update however, I will start by saying a few quick thank you’s that are most certainly deserved.
Firstly, a huge thank you is owed to Martin Trinder, Kev Miles, Craig Richardson, Paul Norvell, Stephen Sourhern, Shad & Peter Saleem of the CIC for their work in securing the football club’s future.
A serious amount of time and effort has gone into putting the deal together and getting it over the line, and they all deserve a huge amount of respect for their persistence and time they’ve put into this deal.
We would also like to put out a huge thank you to former manager David Stockdale, who came into the club at a very difficult moment in its long and storied history. A very open and honest person who gave the job his all, while holding a very genuine affection for this football club and its supporters.
As Kev Miles mentioned in the club’s press release yesterday “Community ownership of a football club through a CIC, with the involvement of fans and the local community, is the best guarantee of a permanent future for a club”. For the first time in a very longtime, supporters are going to have a proper say in how the football club is run. And I think it’s safe to say that all of us are truly thrilled by that prospect.
Next Thursday we are looking to hold an Open Forum and a bit of a ‘Getting to know you’ evening, which will of course give supporters a chance to meet the CIC and put forward and questions they have about the football club. As soon as that’s in place, we’ll get some correspondence out.
At present our application to move to a full trust is in progress and should be filed by the end of the weekend. If you still wish to sign up for this season’s membership, you can do here.
We’re also launching a ‘Lifetime Membership’ option, which is similar to what a lot of other Supporters Trusts around the country do. You can find more details on that here.
As a Trust with seat at the table to so to speak, we need to do all we can to fundraise and assist in the financing of the football club – especially at this moment in time.
Over the coming weeks you’ll likely see plenty of fundraising activities and events scheduled, likely starting with our very overdue race night! On top of fundraising events, you can expect to see a big push on hospitality bookings, sponsorship opportunities and half season tickets.
To end on an update, in regards to away travel, tomorrow’s bus to Ilkeston sadly wont be going ahead due to the lack of interest.
Our next away bus will see us travel to Macclesfield, on Saturday 23 November. We still have plenty of seats left for this one, so you’re interested in getting booked up you can find all the information you need here.
In December, we’ll also be providing travel to Workington, Hebburn and Morpeth. Details of those trips should be announced in the coming weeks.
Once again, we’d all like to pass on a final thank you for your support in recent months. It’s been a difficult period but, we’ve come out from the other side of it. The club still has some obstacles to overcome in both the short and long term but together, we can get this beloved football club heading in the right direction again.
Cheers,
Dan Rolls.